Sheet-metal buckle.



F. A. & J. B. RUSS.

SHEET METALBUGKLE. APlLIOATION FILED JUNE 29, 1907.

905,931 Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

IV/TNESSES INVENTORS GL0. rawmw 1 40% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEND A. RUSS, OF GREENWICH, AND JOHN B. RUSS, OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT.

SHEET-METAL BUCKLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRIEND A. RUSS, residing at Greenwich, in the county of F airfield and State of Connecticut, and JOHN B. RUSS, residing at Derby, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, both citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sheet- Metal Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to buckles of the lock lever class and its object is to provide an economical and durable device of this character which can be made out of sheet metal and attached to the end of a running webbing without resorting to the expedient of sewing or stitching.

With this and other objects in view our invention consists in the details of construction and manner of operation more fully described in the following description and accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to corresponding parts.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front view of the buckle showing a part of the weblocking lever and portions of the webbing broken away; Fig. 2 a longitudinal section taken on line 0c% of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, front and sectional views of the buckle before the lever is assembled.

The buckle generally comprises a back frame A and a web-locking lever B. The frame A may be made from a blank like that shown in F ig. 4 which consists of the back plate at having the forwardly turned Side ears Z), 6 perforated at c, 0. The back plate of the blank is slit or cut vertically and horizontally at ol, cl and e to form a tongue f which latter may be turned downwardly onto the lower portion of the back plate 9 for a purpose and in a manner hereinafter to be described. The web-locking lever B is made out of a single piece of sheet metal and bent to form a shield 71 and an apron k the latter having a serrated or toothed edge Z and the integral projecting trunnions t, t journaled in the perforations c, 0 respectively of the said ears b, b. The upper reach m of the webbing may be secured in some suitable manner at its upper extremity and then extends downwardly passing between the frame A and the lever B is turned upon itself passing through a cast off frame D.

The'turned up running portion of the webbing is secured to the frame A by placing the extremity 20 thereof against the bottom of the tongue f and swaging down the latter onto the surface of the webbing thus compressing and pinching the same tightly between the tongue and the lower portion of the frame, thus the webbing is secured entirely across its extremity between two flat surfaces without being pierced, out or weakened at this point. The downward Strain upon the lower reach is resisted only by a surface friction and the webbing is at no point stretched over teeth, projections or sharp edges which would tend to weaken the same. In closing the lever the apron or clamping edge is presses the running portion of the webbing against the front face of the back plate a, passes a dead center and is locked in its closed position as shown in Fig. 2. The shield 73 is of such a length that its lower edge will engage the webbing n below the back plate a and hold the lower front reach against the rear reach, thereby enabling the assembled parts when in operation to appear flat and compact. It is obvious that by throwing the locking lever to the open position that the buckle may be raised and lowered upon the running portion of the webbing which movement results in a corresponding movement to the cast ofi' frame D. This manner of securing the extremity of the webbing to the front of the frame enables a certain flush and flat effect to be produced along the rear of the upper and lower reaches m, n respectively and the back of the buckle, and further the tendency of the lower rear reach to bulge rearwardly when the webbing is slack, which is a defect common to those supporters wherein the eX- tremity is sewed in the form of a terminal loop, is done away with since the tendency of the clenching of the extremity of the webbing in the manner described is to direct the same downwardly and forwardly rather than rearwardly. By slitting the back plate a between the forwardly turned side ears 6, b there is produced a lip of equal length substantially to the width of the buckle without weakening the back plate, thereby enabling us to provide a buckle having no substantial lateral projections beyond the sides of the webbing. By securing the extremity of the webbing to the lower part of the frame as above described so much of the same is saved as would be necessary in the case where it is looped around a frame member and sewed and while this saving merely amounts to an inch more or less of webbing, in the case of one supporter, it amounts to a considerable number of yards in the 5 case of a large number of supporters; and further the strain on the buckle is such as to draw the frame into substantially the same vertical plane with that of the upper and lower reaches producing a flat like ef- 10 feet.

Having now described our invention what we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A sheet metal buckle for running web- 15 bing comprising a back plate having for wardly turned side ears, and a web locking lever journaled between said ears, the said plate being slit between said ears and bent outwardly to form a transversely disposed web gripping lip adapted to be pressed 20 downwardly on the body of the back plate to confine and conceal the end of webbing.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 14th day of June, A. D.

FRIEND A. RUSS. JOHN B. RUSS. Witnesses:

DANIEL W. NORTHRUP, VVALTER O. HOLDEN. 

